Many have waxed lyrical about the tasting menu that you can get there but sadly this is now too labour intensive to do with the weekend rush so I’m going to have to save that for another (warmer) day. The drive down was actually rather enjoyable, as we crossed over into Kent the snow was still on the ground and the sun was in the sky, the perfect weather for a day trip down to the sea.

We had planned to have a little wander round Whitstable but sadly we left the house a little late and didn’t get a chance but our friends who joined us for lunch said it was lovely and they’d actually walked from Whitstable to the restaurant which had taken them a little over an hour. Seasalter is bleak, even on such a beautiful winters day, but bleak in its own unique way. The restaurant is the complete antithesis: warm, light, and friendly, the perfect place for a spot of lunch.

As we couldn’t order the tasting menu we did our best to recreate it ourselves. Starters consisted of oysters (fresh and poached), crab risotto, terrines, and very softly poached salmon. All of it was excellent. The oysters were fresh and large, and while I enjoyed the poached variety I’m of the opinion that you can do very little to improve a fresh oyster except with a squeeze of lemon, a drop of tabasco and some red wine vinaigrette.

Fresh oyster

Poached oysters with caviar

The risotto was expertly crafted; a heap of fresh meat on top of some wonderfully fragrant and tasty rice, I would have liked to have stolen a bowl all to myself but had to make do with a few bites. The purity of the crab and the texture of the risottoe made this a brilliant dish.

Crab risotto

The salmon was another revelation; poached just a smidge to give it a bit of texture but still retaining the fresh flavour from the raw meat, it came with some dill cream that was just heavenly. Another I’d have happily taken for myself.

Poached salmon

We finished of with some gorgeously meaty terrine and the home baked bread that was as good as it looks. Oh and did I mention the moreish crackling that we got started with? Yes, that too.

Pork terrine

Crackling

Mains were beautifully presented and tasted fantastic. The ray wasn’t what I was expecting at all but all the better for it. I only had one bite, as I didn’t want to share my baked cod that came in a thick, rich and creamy crab bisque sauce that was so bloody good.

Ray

Baked cod

I was beginning to fill up at this point but the most delightful palatte cleanser I’ve ever had snapped me back in to life, literally. Shot glasses filled with apple sorbet and popping candy were as fun as they were delicious and gave us renewed strength for one more little pudding.

Apple sorbet with popping candy

A slice of lemon cake finished of the meal in style. Light and fruity, it was the only desert that we could have gone for and it was magnificent.

Lemon tart

As the sun was setting on a brilliant lunch we went for a wander down the sea front, the light was fantastic and the view was beautifully desolate. And right in the middle of it all is such a delightful little pub, serving up some amazing grub for those that make the effort to come. And it really is worth the effort, if you haven’t been, you need to go.

Bleak but beautiful

decisions, decisions

I’d never been to Blueprint, but I had been to Quo Vadis, which I had remembered as a nice, if rather formal affair, that didn’t leave me gasping for another visit. Mr Lee’s arrival seemed like the right time to give it another go and I’d already read a number of glowing reviews by the time I’d walked through the door, and I was looking forward to a fun meal. We got there a little early so decided to have a drink at the bar. When asking for a cocktail menu the bartender looked me straight in the eye, and without hesitation announced “I am the menu”. A little cheesy but we rolled with it and to his credit he produced a lovely gin martini for me and a few other delightful concoctions. A good way to get started to a what turned out to be a rather boozy evening.

And the food? First thing to be ordered was the eel sandwich, which everyone had been raving about. Smoky, fleshy eel, lathered in horseradish sauce in thick white bread, it packs a real punch and I could easily have it at least once a week. Oysters weren’t up to the same standard sadly, a little on the watery side and not very fleshy, but they were only downer on what was a fantastic meal. Baked salsify with parmesan was a delight; crunchy, salty and cheesy, real comfort food. Grilled squid was just the right mixture of texture and flavour with a lovely fennel salad, another win.

Baked salsify

Oysters

Squid and fennel salad

Eel and horseradish sandwich

Chicken

Mutton

Game pie

By the time pudding came round my memory gets a little hazy, vanilla ice cream with some sort of chocolate pudding was tasty enough but the mains are what stick in the mind. By this point the man himself was doing a tour off the dining room, he seemed to know everyone in the restaurant, but he still found the time to come over and say hi, and a lovely man he is too; mad as a hatter but great fun and a great chef.

Pudding

Hazy memory

Quo Vadis is going to become a regular haunt of mine, if you’re in need of a place with delicious, affordable grub in a genial atmosphere and lots of booze then this is the place to go, you’ll probably find me at the bar.

My favourite amongst these three has to be Pitt Cue; I’d salivated over the posts of all the bloggers that they cleverly invited to the soft opening the week before opening. I’d memorized the menu and had my sights set on the famous Pickle Back (more of that later). We headed down there two days after it had opened, and because I am a total food geek and had read so much about it, I assumed the rest of London had to and that there would be a queue out the door. Luckily there wasn’t. We put our names down, and settled down at the bar for some seriously awesome bourbon cocktails. And these cocktails are seriously awesome. I don’t drink a lot of bourbon but I’m going to start, it’s sweet and smooth and is a great cocktail base. We tried as many as we could, and they were all great. Special mention has to go to the infamous Pickle Back; a shot of bourbon followed by a shot of sickly sour pickle juice. It sounds disgusting, but it was probably one of the most moreish, crack like experiences of my life, I could have had 100.

Cocktails

Oh, and did I mention the food? The meat is like nothing I’ve ever tasted; tender and juicy, delicious and sweet. I could go on forever. I’ve never eaten food that puts a smile on my face like this. The mash is smoky and burnt (in a good way), the beans are huge, the slaw is crunchy and the pickled jar of veg is manna from heaven. Oh and the battered shitake are a stroke of genius. And it’s all cheap as chips, we nearly ordered the entire menu, got pleasantly pissed on cocktails and generally had one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve had in a long time for the princely sum of £25. I plan to spend a large proportion of my life here.

Ribs

Pulled pork

Sticky Toffee

A place like this just wouldn’t work with a reservation system; primarily because it’s tiny, I mean minuscule, but that only adds to the charm. It’s open all day so if you don’t fancy a wait, get down there late on a Sunday and I bet you won’t have to hang around too long.

Next up, Meat Liquor; a slightly different beast to Pitt Cue but a lot of fun as well. A garish, cavernous place, which you can find round the back of Debenhams, here there isn’t anything as civilized as a list so you’re just going to have to get in line and wait your turn. But because it’s so big and provided you don’t turn up at a peak time you’ll be in quicker than you think. We turned up in a group of 7 on a Saturday at 3pm and we were sat down with a cocktail in hand by 3:30. It is a weird place, it has to be said, lots of seedy red lighting and faux graffiti all over the walls, you feel like you’re in a low quality horror movie. But the food here is good. Some of it is really good. The wings are the best I’ve ever had; greasy, crispy and moreish with a mysterious blue cheese dip, we were elbowing each other to get through them. The battered pickles are genius; sweet , crispy and very tasty.

Wings, Battered Pickles and Chilli Fries

The burgers are also extremely good; rare and juicy with a variety of options from the “Dead Hippie” to the original cheese burger that made the Meat Wagon so famous.

Burger time

Perfectly cooked

All this washed down by a range of cocktails that come in all shapes and sizes to fit any palette. We spent a very happy couple of hours drinking, laughing and eating and again we emerged into the twilight £25 lighter than when we walked in. If you want some trashy food in a trashy atmosphere then this is a great spot.

Last but not least the most up market of the trio; Burger and Lobster. This is fast food Mayfair style. £20 gets you a burger, a lobster or a lobster roll. As many have already pointed out £20 is a lot for a burger, it must be one of the most expensive burgers in London. Some people were still ordering them but when you’ve got places like Meat Liquor dolling them out for £9.50 I would imagine most would go for a lobster option. Although L&B operate a “we’ll phone you when the tables ready” policy and we arrived before 7, albeit in a group of 7 (suicidal on Thursday), we weren’t seated till 9:30.

*Bib Requiered*

Two and half hours is a long time to wait for anything but wait we did and thankfully the lobster was as good as we’d been led to believe. They are a decent size, grilled or steamed, with lemony butter and crispy chips. The roll isn’t half bad either; toasted brioche with all the hard work done for you, it’s not as big as the lobster but there’s argument for quality vs quantity here. We even shared a burger between us as well, you know just to see what it was like. And it was a very good burger; juicy, succulent and meaty. But worth £20? I’m not so sure when there’s such strong competition all over London.

Lobster Roll

Lobster

As with all these places I imagine a healthy proportion of the profits come from the exotic cocktails on the menu, they’re all about £9 and are helpfully set out to accompany the burger or the lobster. This was the most pricey of the three, but that’s to be expected in Mayfair and with a long wait at the bar. Still if you like lobster you won’t find it cheaper in London than you will here, just don’t come in too big a group. In fact that goes for all of these places, especially Pitt Cue. I’d advise 4 or less really. That is unless you love to queue.

So that’s your round up. 3 meals for under £90. All delicious. Surely Coren can’t argue with that, can he? I know I probably fit into the “jobless foodie neophile alkies (aka bloggers)” but I’m more than happy to wait a bit when the end result is food as good and as cheap as these three. Go to them all and see for yourself.

The dining room couldn’t look more different; lots of space and light, a very Nordic feel, a lot of wood and a splattering of important looking quotes on the wall. I’m not sure what the quotes were meant to bring exactly; I liked “Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all” but thought that “Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live” was a bit of a weird one to plaster all over an expensive restaurant, but each to their own.

The food itself follows on from the Nordic theme, it’s served on granite type “plates” and all of them came with rather a lot of foliage, a lot of it rather unnecessary in my opinion, some of it even unappetising, looking like it had been plucked from a Tesco’s value pack.

Another hat tip to current trends was the small plate zeitgeist; the menu offers a choice of 6, 8, or 10 course tasters or an a la carte 3 courser (which is only £5 cheaper than the six but has more sizeable portions). The food itself is rather hit and miss, a few dishes were very tasty but a few weren’t and the rest were just very dull. I stuck to a la carte, while my companions went for the six courser. I choose the pork and black pudding, the turbot and the white chocolate pudding, the rest of the dishes are from the tasting menu.

Things didn’t get off to a great start; I can see what the chef was going for with the raw turnip salad but I just didn’t enjoy it at all. I found the dish far too earthy and the texture was all wrong, one to avoid.

Raw Turnip Salad with chestnuts

The pork and black pudding was a lot better, probably one of my favourite dishes of the night, lots of delicious pork cooked in various different ways with a punchy celery butter underneath it made me glad that I didn’t go for the tasting menu and stuck to the a la carte.

Pork and Black Pudding, blanched celery branch, crisp skin, celery butter

The foie gras with smoked onion was a bit iffy, the foie gras didn’t really taste of much and the smoked onion tasted of too much and was far too over powering.

Roast Foie Gras, thyme sabayon, smoked onions

The venison tartar was again rather bland and didn’t really work with the hazelnut puree that came with it. All I could think of was the Raw Hereford Rib with oyster & wild watercress that I had at the Young Turks and how much better it was.

Venison Tartar, grated walnuts, wild sorrel, hazelnut puree

The John Dory was perfunctory, if again slightly dull, a nice piece of fish but not much more than that.

Roast John Dory, sweet cauliflower, cumin, cauliflower milk, brown butter

The turbot with chicken skin was an example of Aikens penchant for mixing up meat and fish and in this instance I didn’t really think it worked, the turbot was perfectly nice, meaty and well cooked but I didn’t find the chicken skin or meat particularly complimentary, if anything I found it jarring. This was a dish that had a ridiculous amount of “stuff” on the plate, and it was all too much.

Turbot, crisp chicken skin, land cress, sorrel

The final savoury course was one of the better ones; a lovely piece of lamb with breaded anchovies and ewe’s cheese, this was a mixture of flavours I can work with and they worked well although perhaps a little in danger of too much richesse.

Romney Lamb, ewe's cheese, anchovy, confit garlic

Puddings came in the form of a rather confused White Chocolate, done a gazillion ways, none of them particularly good and all a bit muddled. The beetroot sorbet on the other hand was superbly light and was a nice end to a rather disappointing meal.

White Chocolate Creme, black pepper, pepper caramel

Candied Beetroot, yoghurt parfait, sweetened beets, port syrup

Leaving Tom Aiken I had the feeling that he was trying so hard to mimic the simplicity and popularity of places like the The Ten Bells, Roganic or even Noma but that his cooking lacked their clarity and punchy flavours. A lot of this cooking was muddled, forgettable and badly thought through. There are places all over London and the UK that are doing this better and, you feel, believe in the ethos more. Sadly Tom Aikens is just a poor imitiation.

Job done: we were going to the Fat Duck, now I just needed to figure out how to pay for it, well I had a couple of months to start saving….

3 months took an age to pass, but finally the day arrived, a chilly December morning and we jumped on a train to Maidenhead and a taxi to Bray and, yes, finally it was time for lunch at the Fat Duck.

You immediately feel at home at the Fat Duck; it’s small, intimate, warm and has some of the loveliest front of house in the country. Shown to your table, you are soon presented with a plate of olives, a menu (although there is only the tasting menu to choose) and an enormous tome which we were told was the wine list. You are then left for what seems like quite a long time to peruse both, decide on some wine and a glass of champagne and wait for the fireworks to start. This wait is slightly longer than you might like, we were told that the aperitif was about to arrive about 45 minutes after we sat down which is quite a bit but once things kick off service couldn’t be quicker or more attentive.

So after this fairly pointless pre-amble which most of you haven’t bothered to read anyway shall we move on to what we ate?

Well, things kick off in classic Fat Duck style with the famous Nitro Poached Aperitif. A trolley is brought over to your table and you are asked which of the aperitif’s you would like out of Vodka and Lime Sour, Gin and Tonic, or Campari Soda. I chose Gin and Tonic and watched as a the maitre’d slowly squeezed a smooth egg white on to a spoon and carefully placed it into a steaming bowl of liquid nitrogen, no big deal apparently although you wouldn’t want to get your hand anywhere near it. After around 30 seconds, the egg was removed and a twist of lemon and squirt of gin are added and you are invited to place the entire thing in your mouth. Nothing prepares you for the sensation of the frozen egg white bursting into nothing in your mouth followed by the clearest, purest gin and tonic you’ve ever tasted. It’s a great start to the meal, a bit of theatre and a lovely palate cleanser.

Nitro Poached Aperitif

The first course proper is another bit of Heston magic; Red cabbage gazpacho with mustard ice cream. To be honest, I don’t even like mustard that much but in this dish it just made so much sense that you couldn’t help but love it. It’s refreshing, it’s fun and it really gets your taste buds going.

Red Cabbage Gazpacho, Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream

Next up was probably one of my favourite dishes of the entire meal. The food is laid out in front of you along with a rather large patch of grass right in the middle of the table, you are invited to put a small piece of brown film on your tongue that tastes of moss and wood and then a mystical liquid is poured on to the grass and the whole table is engulfed in a forest mist, you are then invited to enjoy your food. Soft quail mousse, green pea puree, chicken liver parfait, truffle toast and a little bit of crayfish cream, this was a sense assault and one I thoroughly enjoyed, so many lovely flavours and more theatre, we were definitely settling into lunch.

Jelly of Quail, Crayfish Cream, Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast

Third course was perhaps one of the first dishes to make Heston famous, It is invariably the first one people say when you mention him and I was looking forward to seeing what snail porridge really tastes like. In actual fact this dish is a lot straighter than some of the other things on the menu, but it is still absolutely delicious. Bright green parsley infused oats hiding four succulent snails with shavings of iberico ham and fennel it was just what was needed on a cold winters day, heart-warmingly good.

Snail Porridge, Iberico Bellota Ham, Shaved Fennel

One of the few obvious Michelin type things that Heston serves up is the roasted foie gras which comes with a fruity rhubarb jam; it was soft and creamy on the inside with a crispy finish. Nothing overly complex here, but still perfection itself.

Roast Foie Gras, Barberry, Braised Konbu and Crab Biscuit

And now we moved on to a dish that many would have already seen on TV; the Mock Turtle Soup. This course is packed with theatre, the waitress told us the story of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and the history of turtle soup, and you’re even given a little bookmark to remember the story. Then a bowl with a little egg, mushroom and the meaty turtle (really ox tongue) is placed in front of you and you are presented with a golden pocket watch which you dissolve into the bowl of concentrated stock. It disappears in front of your eyes and voila, you’ve got mock turtle soup! While I love the theatre of all of this, I wasn’t quite so sure about the dish itself, I found the soup quite stocky and meat a little tough. I’m not saying it was bad but certainly more fun than something with any real substance.

Mock Turtle Soup

The next dish was just as fun; with “Sounds of the Sea” you happily listen to seagulls squawking and waves crashing on the beach, as you work your way through 3 lovely pieces of sashimi with sand (in fact tapioca) and shellfish foam. I enjoyed this a lot, the whole dish was so evocative of the sea and the beach that I couldn’t help but love it although I did find the tapioca slightly over powering.

"Sounds of the Sea"

Liquorice poached salmon was a return to slightly more familiar territory and was an amazing array of different flavours; bitter grapefruit, smooth sweet vanilla mayonnaise, lovely pink salmon and asparagus, this was a master class in pulling together different flavours and creating something truly unique, easily one of my faves.

Salmon poached in Liquorice Gel, Artichokes, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe

At this point we were at the last of the savoury dishes, and we had a lovely bit of venison to finish things off. Cooked sous-vide, ridiculously tender and bursting with flavour it was served with some nutty, moreish umble and spelt risotto, and it left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Saddle of Venison, Beetroot Soubise, Risotto of Spelt and Umbles

A little glass of hot and cold tea, which gives the sensation that one half of it is hot the other cold, is a nice little palate cleanser with the Heston touch, it messes with your senses and leaves you smiling.

Hot and Iced Tea

First of the desserts is the Tafferty Tart, a ludicrously good looking dish that tastes wonderful, notes of rose and fennel mixed with apple and lemon with a lovely crunchy finish; in short it was heavenly.

Tafferty Tart, Caramelized Apple, Fennel, Rose and Candied Lemon

And then we had reached the final “proper” dessert, we were reaching the end of our trip with Heston and I didn’t want it to end. But end it would and placed in front of us was the Fat Duck’s take on the Black Forest Gateau; thick, delicious chocolate and fruity cherry accompanied by a dollop of Kirsch ice cream this was a lovely rich and homely way to finish off the food.

"The BFG", Kirsch Ice Cream and the smell of the Black Forest

But there were still a few little bits and bobs to go as we wound down from what must rank as one of the most surprising and enjoyable meals I’ve had. First we were treated to the “Whisky Wine Gums”, multi-flavoured sweets that tasted of all different types of whiskey; they even threw in a Jack Daniels, yummy.

Whisky Wine Gums

As you prepare to leave you are presented with a little gift bag filled with sweets that you’d only find at the Fat Duck; edible playing cards, apple caramel (with edible wrapper) and caramel tobacco.

"Like a Kid in a Sweet Shop"

And that was that, as I got in to the cab I reflected on what we’d just experienced: this was a meal I’d been thinking about for a long, long, time and I’d been looking forward to it for 3 months, how did it do? Well, as you can probably tell, it lived up to even my incredibly high expectations, even though I’d slavishly researched every course it still managed to delight and surprise me and it took me about half a year to save for I can honestly tell you it was worth every penny of that hard earned cash. You don’t go back to the Fat Duck though, you nurture this truly unique experience, hope it stays in your mind forever and then look for somewhere else to get excited about, and there’s a lot left on that list….

The Harwood Arms has worked hard to retain its pub roots; you can still have a drink at the bar and it is definitely aiming to be a pub that serves food rather than a restaurant with a bar. Staff are incredibly friendly and even though two of my friends managed to turn up just over half an hour late they didn’t get annoyed, just told us to relax and we could order when they arrived. I know a lot of fine dining establishments that would have got a bit arsey over this tardiness so plus points to the Harwood for being so nice about it.

While we waited we got stuck into a few starters; we knew we had to get the legendary Scotch egg, which I’d read a lot about, and we also got stuck into a plate of oyster fritters. The Scotch egg was a good as any I’ve had; soft yolky centre, venison meat (with a hint of sausage to help with the binding) and a light breadcrumb shell. This was the big leagues, one that would have been a contender at the Great London Scotch Egg challenge if they’d been able to enter (apparently they didn’t have enough staff to cover that night and it was eventually won by the Devonshire but that’s another story). The Harwood Arms is worth a visit just on the back of this.

I’ve never had oysters any other way but live so I was intrigued to try the fritters; they were a lovely mixture of crispy light batter and slimy, soft filling. I thought they were pretty decent, not a spot on a nice fresh oyster but a nice little snack with a pint.

Oyster fritters

Being a Sunday, we thought we’d go for the roast option which came in the form of a huge cut of sirloin to share between the three of us. It came with bone marrow, roast potatoes and various veg. It was pretty decent but was definitely lacking in any wow factor, I thought the potatoes weren’t crispy enough and although the meat was cooked perfectly I just didn’t think that much of it. I suppose the problem is that it’s a meal you have at home often and I definitely felt that I couldn’t have done a pretty decent imitation of it at home if I was so inclined. That’s more my fault for ordering it than anything else, I should have gone for something a bit more adventurous that I haven’t had a hundred times before. That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy it; we did, a lot, next time I’m going to go for something more exciting.

Sunday Roast in all its glory

Mini Donuts and Lemon Curd

So after a lot of food, a decent bottle of wine and a pint or two we were served up with a bill of just over £50 a head which is a lot for a pub lunch but felt like quite good value considering how long we’d been there, and we tottered off to the footie in a great mood. My advice; book for a weekend that’s miles away, whack it in your diary and forget about it. If you can’t go on the weekend in question, no biggie, if not you’ve got a nice little treat in store for you.

Luckily the same can’t be said for the main dining room which is more familiar,; open plan with a view of the kitchen it probably seats about 30 covers. The food itself is exactly what you’d expect, which is’nt a complaint at all as this was the reason we came. I love Fergus Henderson’s cooking; simple, meaty and decadent. I started off with Snails, Pig’s Cheek and Lovage while my sister went for the Pickled Mackerel. The cheeks and snails came in a delicious, slightly bitter lovage sauce and were unbelievably morrish, the sort of starter you intentionally slow down to eat. I want to learn to cook that one myself. The mackerel was good as well; it had a lovely cure and a sort of bean salad but it’s something that I have had too many times recently and need a bit of a break from.

Snails, Pig's Cheek, and Lovage

Pickled Mackarel, Kohlrabi and Coco Beans

Mains were more of the same, I went for the skate which was a nice bit of meaty fish but lacking in seasoning and a little dull, I found myself looking over enviously at my sister’s Gloucester Old Spot Loin, which looked an amazing, almost gammonny piece of meat, it had been cooked in chard and mustard and I am getting hungry just thinking about.

Skate, Bread and Brown Shrimp

Smoked Gloucester Old Spot Loin, Chard, and Mustard

We’d didn’t get on to pudding as by this point with a bottle of wine and a drink at the bar the bill was already at £120 which is pretty steep even for St John quality cooking. We had a lovely time and this newest venture will be very popular in its central location, it’s certainly a nice addition to what is becoming a truly amazing area of London food wise but my heart will always belong to the original and next time I get the craving for a St John meal, that’s where you’ll find me.

It was a glorious October morning last week and after a lovely aimless walk in and around the heart of London we wandered upon Barrafina and on impulse decided this would be perfect for a spot of lunch. The place was bustling and we grabbed a couple of beers and waited patiently for a couple of places to become available. You feel like you’re experiencing the real thing in Barrafina, the cooks chat away in Spanish and there’s various hams, clams and croquettas on show. We grabbed a couple of seats and started ordering, this is what we had.

Ham platter – Good but wish I’d ordered the slightly more priced Jamon Iberico which the couple next to me ordered and looked delicious.

Croquettas – soft, gooey, delightful.

Razor Clams – Always one of my favourite things to order and didn’t let me down; big, juicy and delicious.

Prawns – Again another classic but just what it should be; lovely pieces of garlic and chilli with satisfyingly large gambas.

Courgette flower – I love these so much, light, crispy and filled with ricotta, one of my favourite’s of the afternoon.

Quail – While everything else was good but not necessarily mind blowing this wasn’t just good but AMAZING. So succulent, juicy, tender, tasty, I could happily go on and on. It was accompanied by some lovely aioli (although it hardly needed it) and some rather good fries bravas which had a lovely hint of thyme this was the stand out dish. A must have.

So that was our Saturday lunch, although I am getting a little tired of the whole sharing plates malarkey, I don’t really count tapas in that category. When you’re in the mood for a casual hour or two at a bar with some lovely wine and great food there really isn’t anywhere better. Jose’s food might be slightly better but the lack of crowds at Barrafina mean it’s a slightly more relaxed option.

I’d read bits and bobs about the space and the format but as with any supper club type thing I had no idea what to expect, £120 was a lot of money to hand over before you’ve eaten but when I found out that this was including wine along with the 10 courses planned it seemed eminently reasonable. We arrived at the sparse, uber cool, converted loft to find Sam manning a pop up beer tap with accompanying pub snacks. The ale was smooth and refreshing while the pub snacks consisted of some lovely pickled quails eggs, light as air pork scratchings and fresh nuts. It was a lovely, simple way to start the evening off and a good chance to meet a few of the people there.

The set up for the evening is one long communal table which gives you a decent view of what is going on in the kitchen. This is half the reason for coming in my opinion; I’ve never had a chance to watch a top chef at work and it was fascinating to see Sam and his team rustle up such incredible food in the small kitchen. It’s sort of like the best dinner party you’ve ever been to, where the host doesn’t eat and you pay for your food.

And the food was as good as I hoped it would be; Sam followed the Noma ethos of fresh, simple, and local flavours although obviously with an English feel rather than a Danish one. His cooking reminded me of my meal at Roganic, all about intense flavours and beautiful simplicity. I really can’t wait to get myself over to Noma.

We started off with some light and tasty salmon roe with cucumber and dill, something that sounds like it might lack a bit of flavour but was full of texture and bite while still managing to taste light and airy. The leeks done three ways were again a picture of simplicity; delicately brushed with parsley, hazelnut and ash, these weren’t necessarily mind blowing but just freshness personified.

Salmon roe, cucumber, dill

Leeks, hazelnuts, parsely

After these little amuse bouches we were ready for the first of the proper courses which read mussels, potato, shallot on the menu. What was presented was a delightful little potato soup that beneath the surface hid plump juicy mussels in a shallot and white wine jus. This had a lovely taste of the seaside with the flavours and textures working beautifully together.

Mussels, potato, shallot

Up next was turbot, caviar and watercress and this was another brilliant dish; a lovely bit of fish with the added richness of the caviar and the most amazingly tasty watercress I’ve ever had. I don’t know what he did to it but Sam really made that watercress sing; it was positively bursting with flavour and crunch.

Turbot, caviar, watercress

The next dish was the best of the night and up there with the best thing I’ve eaten all year; Wemmegil grouse with blackberries. I watched Sam plate this up and I was already drooling as I watched him fry the grouse breasts in a ton of butter. They were cooked to perfection, seared on the outside, red and bloody on the inside and just melt in your mouth perfection. This was truly, truly awesome food and something I dream about daily. Sam had specially prepared some Sloe Gin that had been infused with some of the bones from the grouse. I’d never really got to grips with the Sloe Gin but this was lovely and really complimented the grouse.

Sam prepping the grouse

Nearly there

Wemmegil grouse, blackberries, ramson berries

This was the pinnacle of the evening for me but others around me made similar noises when the next dish was served up; mushroom, yolk and chickweed. These were the purest tasting mushrooms I’ve ever had, they tasted like they’d been plucked from the earth a minute before and were bathed in a rich black broth that only accentuated the flavours more, brilliant again.

Mushrooms, yolk, chickweed

The final savoury was a lovely piece of pork belly with rhubarb and onions, I love me a bit of pork belly and this was done the right way; homely and tasty. By this point the pace was slowing and I was nearly sated after many glasses of wine which had been brilliantly sourced by another young talent Laura Atkinson from Berry Bros, each one picked for the accompanying food, with my favourite being a particularly punchy Rioja.

The puddings were both light which is all I could probably handle at this point but provided some interesting combinations flavours. The beetroot, hip roses and yoghurt was a combination I’d never tried before and was a lovely mixture of savoury and sweet with the hip roses giving a really unusual but welcome taste to the beetroot while the caramel, apple and malt was as delicious as it looks, just those three flavours but boy they were all so good together.

Beetroot, hip roses, yoghurt

Apple, malt, caramel

And so by 12:30 the night was over sadly, I was full but could have gone a few more rounds I’m sure which is probably the right way to feel. Sam’s cooking had lived up to my high expectations and positively surpassed them. It would have been nice to hear a bit more from him on the food we were eating but I think this being the first night he was more concerned with the food coming out alright to stand around chatting, I did manage to grab him for a few minutes and he’s a great guy who sounds like he’s having an epic time in Cophenhagen but I’m sure it won’t be long before we see him open up his own place on these shores so watch this space.

The Loft Project is one of a kind, a great space with a lovely atmosphere. Obviously a lot depends on who you get at the table but I think one thing is guaranteed and that’s that everyone there is mad about food. I think I am right in saying that they are moving locations so they’ll be a bit of a break in chef nights but when it starts up again make sure you get yourself a ticket, it’s the best £120 you’ll ever spend.

A bit of history: I’d read some blog posts that were saying that these were the best hot dogs in town the photos of these sausages had me salivating at work, I had to have one even if they were all the way over in Old St. So one Friday lunch I persuaded a friend from work to jump on a bus from Camden and head down to Old St to see what all the fuss was about. After a long (1 hour!) bus ride we arrived at our destination. At this point I was questioning my sanity; is any hot dog worth an hour long trip? My companion was also asking me this since I’d promised we’d be there and back in half the time.

Well thankfully they didn’t disappoint, I wouldn’t consider myself a hot dog expert and I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a New York hot dog expert but these blew me away. Made from the freshest meat with garlic and paprika then smoked they taste like no other hot dog you’ve ever tasted. The first bite is the best as all the juicy goodness spews forth from the greatest sausage in the word.

I would be the first to admit that I am generally quite susceptible to hype; you read a few blog posts about somewhere claiming it’s the next big thing and then you go to see for yourself and either you’ve hyped it so much that whatever turns up will disappoint or you just feel like you’re following the crowd. Well for me the acid test on these hot dogs was the hapless work colleague who I’d dragged across town to try them, and he declared that they were definitely worth the hour and half round trip and he’d happily come back. So I breathed a sigh of relief and ordered another.

Well thankfully we don’t need to make another trip to Old St as now these dogs are coming a little closer to us. Every Thursday Abiye (the genius behind these hot dogs) will be setting up his stall in between Kings Cross St Pancreas and the Station on Kings Boulevard, for exact directions have a look here. This is good news for me working in Camden. I made my way down today for lunch and they were as good as ever and it only took half the time to get there! Still a bit of hike for a hot dog but these I worth it.

So if you work in Shoreditch or the Kings Cross area get yourself down to the great hot dog stall in the world and get your fix.

239 Old Street
London EC1V 9EY